


Patience

by mondlers



Category: Friends (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-23
Updated: 2017-03-23
Packaged: 2018-10-09 16:41:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 637
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10416510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mondlers/pseuds/mondlers
Summary: Mondler drabble for the prompt "things you said at the kitchen table".





	

The soft thudding of her fingers tapping nervously on the table top is driving Chandler to near insanity. Painted and well kept, they tap and tap and tap until he has to walk away. The chair squeaks loudly as he pushes it backwards and stands up; nearly knocking it over in the act. Catching it just in time, his hand grips the wood of the back too tightly and he looks to Monica. **  
**

The tapping stops abruptly. She’s scared. God, she’s probably more scared than he is and that’s a hard feeling to imagine. Blue eyes stare back at him with a look that pleads for answers and relief. He can only wonder the impression his own expression is giving off. It’s difficult to tell when he can’t seem to keep his emotions straight in his own mind.

“They’re going to call. It’s going to be good news.”

Her inflection denotes certainty but her normally steady voice wavers. His throat feels suddenly dry and the reassuring words sit on the tip of his tongue but he can’t seem to get them out. With his wife sitting at their kitchen table, now picking incessantly at the fabric of her shirt in favor of the tapping, he can’t help but feel the overwhelming weight of how badly he wants to receive good news about this. Not only for Monica, who’s wanted children for as long as he’s known her, but for himself too. Albeit never the kind of guy that ever saw himself with kids, having had enough family dysfunction in his childhood to last a lifetime, Chandler has grown fond of the idea of starting a family over the past few years. And he has Monica, and Monica alone, to thank for that. She has shown him what a family is really meant to be; not what his divorce and drama plagued adolescence had led him to believe.

“This is going to happen for us,” he says finally. He rounds the table and settles himself next to Monica, kneeling on one knee. Grabbing for both hands, he pulls hers away from the nervous picking of fabric and clasp them within his own.

“Look at me,” Chandler instructs her. Monica hesitates but turns to face him a moment later, worry lining every inch of her face. “No matter what they say, we’re going to figure this out. Okay?”

A stiff nod is what he receives and he’ll just have to take it for now. Truth be told, he’s as much of a nervous wreck as Monica is, but he can’t show it; not when she’s relying on him to be the collected one for once. With a gentle tug, he brings her to her feet and embraces Monica tightly. They stay that way for a long time, his arms enveloping her as she holds onto him for dear life. It’s not until she starts to retreat slowly that Chandler falls back into reality.

“I think I just need to get out of here for a little while,” Monica says, still half in Chandler’s hold. “I can’t just sit here and wait anymore. I’ll go insane.”

“ _Go_ insane?”

His joke, thankfully, doesn’t fall flat and earns a weak smile from his wife. Reaching out to wrap around him once more, Monica holds him briefly before placing a chaste kiss on his lips and gathering her things. He watches in silence as she walks out the door and leaves him in the apartment.

In that moment, he feels incredibly alone. Wishing Monica had never left, but knowing she needed to, Chandler sits back down at the table and looks down at the phone placed in the center of the kitchen table. He wonders how long he’ll tolerate sitting there before he too needs to get away.

And then the phone rings.


End file.
